Sara Hammond announced at a press conference on Tuesday morning at Rockcastle County High in Mt. Vernon, Ky. that she was picking Louisville over Connecticut.

Hammond, a multi-faceted 6-foot-2 forward, had recently eliminated Western Kentucky and Vanderbilt from her list of schools and took a couple of days after returning home from her official visit to UConn to think things over before committing to Louisville which has had Hammond on their recruiting radar since she was a freshman in high school.

UConn began to make a push for Hammond over the summer when UConn coach Geno Auriemma offered her a scholarship after seeing her play in an AAU tournament. Louisville was always considered a frontrunner for Hammond but UConn made things interesting before she opted to stay in state.

UConn, which has commitments from guards Brianna Banks and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, is still actively recruiting 6-foot-3 forward/center Kiah Stokes from Marion, Iowa and 6-0 guard/forward Betnijah Laney from Clayton, Del. Stokes is expected to make an official visit to UConn from Oct. 15-17 while Laney's list of official visits are not expected to be announced until she finishes up her home visits this weekend.

Oklahoma updated the start times on its schedule so we now know that the Feb. 14 Oklahoma at UConn game starts at 7 p.m. Look for more info on the games to trickle in until the Big East releases its schedule. Since Holy Cross put out its men's basketball schedule, it's natural to expect the women's schedule to be released shortly.

Here's the non-conference schedule
Preseason
Franklin Pierce (date, site TBA)
Nov. 10 Indiana (Pa.)
Regular season
Nov. 14 Holy Cross
Nov. 16 Baylor (XL Center), 6 p.m. (ESPN2)
Nov. 21 at Georgia Tech, 2 p.m.
Nov. 26-28 WBCA Classic vs. Howard, Lehigh and LSU (dates of exact matchups have not been announced)
Dec. 5 Sacred Heart
Dec. 19 Ohio State (at Madison Square Garden), 2:30 p.m.
Dec. 21 Florida State
Dec. 28 at Pacific, 10 p.m.
Dec. 30 at Stanford, 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
Jan. 17 at North Carolina, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
Jan. 31 Duke, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
Feb. 14 Oklahoma, 7 p.m.


Speaking of games, tickets are still available for the U.S. national team exhibitions against Australia on Friday and Spain on Sunday. Both games are at the XL Center.

Among those in attendance for the games will be UConn commit Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis as well as fellow UConn recruiting target Sara Hammond. Despite what you might have read, these are not official visits but unofficial visits so they are not bound by the 48 hours on campus rule so they could be at both games if they so desire. Jordan Adams, a high school teammate of Mosqueda-Lewis at Mater Dei in Santa Ana, Calif. and fellow UConn recruiting target, is NOT expected to be joining Mosqueda-Lewis in Connecticut this week.

In between dodging rain drops and watching tennis matches at the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament, I have been doing a little bit of checking up on recruiting.

The dates to remember in terms of visits are Sept. 10-12 and Oct. 15-17.

As previously reported in this blog, Sara Hammond is planning to visit UConn during that first weekend I mentioned (actually from Sept. 9-11 according to her father) and the word I am hearing is that there's an outside chance that the two players who have already committed to UConn (Kalana Mosqueda-Lewis and Brianna Banks) may also come up that weekend. That is already a special time for UConn since rising senior Maya Moore (who in three days I can start referring to simply as senior since the fall session will be starting) as well as ex-Huskies Tina Charles, Renee Montgomery and Asjha Jones will be playing for the Geno Auriemma coach U.S. national team against Australia on Sept. 10 and Spain on Sept. 12 with both games at the XL Center in Hartford.

The availability of former UConn stars Sue Bird, Swin Cash and Diana Taurasi will be determined by how deep their teams go into the WNBA players. Bird and Cash play for Seattle, which holds a 1-0 lead on Los Angeles in the Western Conference semifinals while Taurasi's Phoenix Mercury squad won the first game against San Antonio. Seattle and Phoenix will go for the sweep in the best of three series on Saturday. If Seattle and Phoenix reach the Western Conference finals, the trio of former UConn teammates will have to miss the start of the U.S. training camp which starts on Sept. 3 since the WNBA's conference finals don't start until Sept. 2. However, with the conference finals ending no later than Sept. 8, only those players in the WNBA finals would be unavailable for the Connecticut portion of the training camp.

I was incorrect in reporting that visit will be an official one, it will be an unofficial visit but something tells me Sara Hammond, who the UConn staff really likes, will have a pretty good idea of where she will be headed to college when she returns home from her visit to UConn.

Kiah Stokes, another player very high on UConn's wish list, is looking to visit UConn in the Oct. 15-17 time frame which will be around the time UConn holds its "First Night" Fan Fest followed by its first real practice the following day. I'm not sure if Hammond, Elizabeth Williams and Betnijah Laney will be up that weekend as well but don't be surprised to see some of the players high up on UConn's wish list in the high school Class of 2012 make it up there in mid October.

Speaking of Charles, I received an e-mail from the WNBA and the Connecticut Sun of a major WNBA award being presented at Mohegan Sun Casino on Tuesday. Let's see, Charles was the rookie of the month for May, June, July and August, I wonder what major award will be presented on that day?

Sara Hammond, a 6-foot-2 rising senior forward from Rockcastle County High in Mt. Vernon, Ky., will be making an official visit to UConn from Sept. 9-11.

Hammond's father Eddie said on Monday night that UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma was hoping to have Hammond come up that weekend since he will be leaving for the Czech Republic to coach the United States national team in the FIBA World Championships after wrapping up training camps in the Washington, D.C. and Hartford areas next month.

Eddie Hammond said that UConn assistant coach Marissa Moseley and possibly another member of Auriemma's staff is planning to make a home visit on Sept. 17 and that his daughter will likely only take four of the five available official campus visits.

Louisville, who the Hammonds have been to multiple times since it is only about two hours away, Western Kentucky and Vanderbilt are other schools they are expected to take official visits to.

Although the dates of her other official visits have not been finalized, Eddie Hammond said it's quite possible that his daughter could make her college decision by the end of next month after the official and home visits are complete.

I figured it was time for a recruiting update so I reached out to Debra Walker, who is the godmother of Betnijah Laney and Eddie Hammond, the father of Sara Hammond.

The biggest news out of my two conversations is that Laney has cut her list of schools from nine to seven as she eliminated Cincinnati and Louisville. Laney, a 6-foot rising senior wing out of Smyrna (Del.) High.

When I spoke with Laney at the U.S. Under-17 practice session last month, Cincinnati and Louisville were on Laney's list along with UConn, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Penn State, Rutgers, Virginia and West Virginia.

The plan is for Laney to go through the process of chatting with coaches during upcoming home visits, narrow her list further and take her five official visits.

As for Hammond, a 6-foot-2 rising senior forward for Rockcastle County High in Mt. Vernon, Kentucky, she lists Vanderbilt, Western Kentucky, Louisville and UConn as her top schools with Notre Dame and Maryland also in the mix according to her father.

Hammond is planning to visit Louisville on Sept. 1 while Eddie Hammond said that UConn coach Geno Auriemma would like to have Sara up for a visit around the time that Auriemma will be coaching the U.S. in exhibitions against Australia and Spain on Sept. 10 and 12 respectively at the XL Center in Hartford. However, the Hammonds have yet to decide if they'll make it up to Connecticut that weekend.

The timing makes sense since Auriemma will be in the Czech Republic coaching the U.S. in the FIBA World Championships from Sept. 23-Oct. 3 and will have a training camp at a location yet to be announced from Sept. 13-22 so the official visits would need to be either done in the first two weekends of September or after Auriemma returns to Connecticut in early October.

UConn already has commitments from guard/forward Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis out of Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, Calif. and guard Brianna Banks, who plays for Northgate High in Newnan, Ga. Besides Hammond and Laney, other players on UConn's recruiting radar in the Class of 2011 include post players Elizabeth Williams and Kiah Stokes. With nine players on scholarship for next year, UConn could take as many as six players but I'd be surprised to see a class of more than four. If UConn can get a combination of either Williams or Stokes and either Hammond or Laney to go with Mosqueda-Lewis and Banks, the UConn staff would be rather delighted. It would also leave four available scholarships for a talent-rich Class of 2012.

Sara Hammond, a versatile 6-foot-2 rising senior forward at Rockcastle County High in Mt. Vernon, Kentucky, was offered a scholarship by UConn coach Geno Auriemma on Friday.

Jarrad Parmley, Hammond's coach for the Kentucky Premier AAU program, confirmed that Auriemma made the scholarship offer as the team returned from the Battle in the Boro in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

"He called her and said he'd like for her to play (at UConn)," Parmley said. "Obviously, she was pretty excited."

Hammond, a lefty who Parmley said can play both on the perimeter and in the post, had a quadruple-double with 18 points, 17 rebounds, 12 blocks and 10 steals in a Jan. 29 win over Pulaski County. She had an impressive performance at the Deep South Classic in April and has been on UConn's radar in the last couple of months.

"She's very unselfish and what the coaches like the most about her is her consistency," Parmley said. "She can hit the 3-pointer and can put the ball on the floor and go by people. She is a very well-rounded player."

Parmley said that Hammond had been in the process of narrowing down her list of schools with Louisville being the frontrunner with Vanderbilt and Western Kentucky also very much in the mix. He also said that was "before Friday." Notre Dame has also been pursuing her. Parmley said that Hammond's plan as he understood it was to visit her top schools before making a decision but with UConn in the mix, that could - and likely will - change.

"I know she would like to go up to UConn for a visit," Parmley said.

Kentucky Premier is entered in the Girls' Showtime National Championship in Indianapolis from July 23-25 and the FILA National Championships in Suwanee, Georgia from July 28-31 which will give college coaches more chances to evaluate her game. When she returns home, she will likely set up some campus visits.

With just nine players on scholarship following the graduation of Maya Moore and Lorin Dixon in 2011, UConn can take as many as six players in the next recruiting class. The Huskies already have commitments from guards Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis of Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, Calif. and Brianna Banks out of Northgate High in Newnan, Ga. Besides Hammond, UConn has offered scholarships to post players Elizabeth Williams, currently the leading scorer and rebounder on the U.S. Under-17 national team and a star at Princess Anne HS in Virginia Beach and Kiah Stokes from Linn-Mar High in Marion, Iowa as well as Smyrna (Delaware) High wing Betnijah Laney.

Hammond's recruitment could easily follow that of current UConn rising sophomore Kelly Faris. UConn appeared to get serious about Faris well into the process and there was talk that the Huskies would be too late to get in the mix with Faris. Obviously, as much of the recruiting gossip tends to be, the information was incorrect as Faris committed to the Huskies over teams closer to her Indiana home. While it's too early to determine whether Hammond will become a teammate of Faris' at UConn, it was clear in speaking with Parmley that UConn is in game with Hammond.

I found this video of Hammond on youtube featuring game action and an interview with her courtesy of sports anchor Derek Forrest from WYMT in Lexington, Kentucky.